Intraurban socioeconomic inequalities in life expectancy in the city of Córdoba, Argentina (2015-2018)

Abstract

Knowing the heterogeneity in social and health indicators within cities allows for designing public policies based on evidence to reduce health inequities. We evaluated the variability in life expectancy at birth (LE) at the census fraction (fracción censal) level, describing the spatial pattern of LE and examining the association between census fraction socioeconomic characteristics and LE.

A cross-sectional study was carried out based on 40,898 death records in the city of Córdoba (2015-2018), including population projections by age, sex (2015-2018), and population data and socioeconomic characteristics from the 2010 national population census in 99 census fractions. The variability in the LE was analyzed by calculating the difference between the 90th and 10th percentiles of the LE distribution in the census fractions (P90-P10) and the association with various socioeconomic characteristics of these areas was evaluated by linear regressions.

The median LE was 80.3 years in women (P90-P10=3.2 years) and 75.1 years in men (P90-P10=4.6 years). We found higher LE in the central part of the city and a spatial pattern with higher LE in the center and northwest, more evident among women. We found positive associations between better socioeconomic characteristics and LE, more noticeable among men. The mean differences in LE (in years) associated with a value of 1 standard deviation in the characteristics of the census fractions in men (and women, respectively) were 0.97 (0.83), 1.04 (0.80 ), and 0.60 (0.55) for the % of adults with secondary education or higher, % of people aged 15 to 17 who attend school and % with water inside the home, respectively. Lower values ​​of % of overcrowded households and lower unemployment rate were associated with a higher LE (0.86 and 0.89 years in men and 0.75 and 0.76 years in women, respectively).

This study provides the first characterization of the heterogeneity in LE at the census fraction level, suggesting a social pattern of longevity in the city.